The Theatine order of clerics regular was founded in 1524 by four members of the Roman branch of the famous Oratory of Divine Love: St. Gaetano da Thiene, Gian Pietro Carafa, Bonifacio de' Colli and Paolo Consiglieri. The history of the order possesses great significance for the larger Tridentine reformation in Italy. Theatine charitable work, especially among the sick and poor, developed out of the context of the Oratory and was propelled by the same renewed zeal that animated the religious and social service activities of old and new orders and congregations after the Council of Trent. Numerous Theatines held influential positions in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the most famous (and infamous) of which was Carafa, who served as the hated and intransigent Pope Paul IV between 1555 and 1559.
Early Theatines wrote spiritual literature that arguably represents the most significant accomplishment of the order. Gaetano composed letters seeking as well as giving advice on the spiritual life that reveal not only his own devotional interests, but also those of his fellow Theatines, in addition to those of his mostly female correspondents. His letters appear here for the first time in English. Lorenzo Scupoli wrote one of the classics of post-Tridentine spiritual literaure, Il combattimento spirituale (The Spiritual Combat). The text has been published in numerous editions and many languages since it originally appeared in 1589. In reality, it has been over-translated: reshaped and adapted for audiences far larger than the convent of nuns for which Scupoli intended it. His most important works appear here in a translation that seeks to return them to their proper context and to render them and their author more comprehensible. This volume includes Carafa's primitive Rule for the Theatine order in a new translation.
